The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-06-21
ABOUT HARD TIMES.
Good Farming the Only Remedy for Agri-
cultural Depression.

HouT- III is OF very llttle use 10 meet
ou- neighbors day after day and lament
the depression in business and low
prices. The hard times are here, and
have come to stay, unless We drive
them away by more intelligent appli.
eaton of our labor, and engage in some
branch of farming upon which we can
put more dependence than upon the
hop crop, for instance. What we need
Is not more acres of grain, but more
bushels to the acre; not more acres of
meadow. but more tons of hay to the
acre. Fifteen acres of wheat at fifteen
bushels to the acre, at low prices,
means a loss; but ten acres at thirty
bushels per acre insures a nice profit
Here We have seventy-five bushels more
or the ten acres than on the fifteen, and
the labor expended on the larger plat
to put 1T in fair condition would put
the smaller i'm the finest and ITS growth
wOGld be JOY to us from first to last.
But some will say. there is too much
wheat raised now-what is the Use OF
growing more to the acre? / admit
there is too much of this ten bushel
business, but not too much of the
''thirty bushels to the acre" The
thirty bushel men can make profit at
lower prices than have yet prevailed.
1t is with growing good crops as with
evesy other calling, plenty of room at
the top" The man who raises thirty
bushels of wheat to the acre on the
average, and other crops in proportion,
viii not have much competition
he has to compete only with the
farmer who raises equally good
crops. Good crops imply good
culture and naturally fertile soil, or
manure to make up this lack of fertil-
ity. 1 regret to say that many farms
are not growing. on the average, nearly
as good crops as they did twenty years
ago. This means that more fertility
has been taken from the soil than has
been returned to it. If we continue to
do this we must be getting in debt to
our farms every year, and if persisted
il the debt will become greater than
we can pay-or, in other words, the
returns will be so small that we can
not afford to be farmers. The farm
will foreclose its mortgage and the
occupant be compelled TO leave. If
we expect to enrich our farms we must
not allow any thing that will enrich
them to 90 to waste. Good farming
consists in having the farm supply all
OIL needs, either directly or indirectly,
at the same time restoring enough fer
tility to the soil to have it increase in
productiveness.
This can not be done in hap-hazard.
neglectful manner. but will require
close. intelligent watch over all the de-
tails of the farm. The man who sue
ceeds in doing this will stand foremost
among the farmers in his vicinity. To
manure well and then to cultivate poor
~ is a waste of manure-'good tillage
IS manure" How shall we make more
manure? 1t is an old saying: "There
is great difference in ginger" which
applies to manure also. Well-fed ami
mails make rich manure; poorly-fed do
not. Feed your hogs hay and the
manure will be no better than from
the cow fed upon hay. Well-fed ami
mails insure rich manure; rich manure,
large crops; large crops. overfowing
barns; overlooking barns, remedy for
hard times.
Much is said about rotation of crops.
The rotation just mentioned can be
heartily recommended. Let the farmer
keep this up for a term of years, and
he will have something he can call his !
own, and not be in debt to his farm. |
Manure not under shelter. the sooner !
it is drawn to the field, spread evenly,
or plowed under, the less waste. To !
have a large barnyard extending out
on the highway for an eighth of a mile
or more, stock turned out from early
morning to evening-this is not pru-
dent use of manure. Yet there are
farmers who complain of poor crops
and hard times. The present condi-
tion of things will not change because
men do not think well of the situation;
this will be of no avail. Prices of farm
products are low; we can not raise
them by holding our individual crops;
we are not masters of the situation in |
this respect; but we can economic in
many ways and not be injured in mind
or body for it, and in this way make
income and expenses meet more easily.
To hang around the village street or
country store, day after day, and say
TO your neighbor: "These are hard
times-I never saw any thing like it
there are some that will have to 60
may all be true, but the
question that needs attention is how to
raise better crops of all kinds at less
expense. When some butter sells al
Fifty cents per pound, let us ask: "How